In mid-2010, the president and chief executive officer of Phase Separation Solutions (PS2) needed to address potential cooperative opportunities with separate Chinese organizations regarding its Thermal Phase Separation (TPS) technology. PS2 was a Saskatchewan-based small environmental solutions company that had grown under the president's entrepreneurial direction to become a North American leader in the treatment of soil, sludge, and debris impacted with various organic contaminants. The company specialized in the cleanup of two waste streams using its TPS technology. The first was the remediation of soil contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The second was recovering usable oil from industrial sludge generated in various industries such as the oil and gas industry.

Learning Objective:

The case is intended for use in strategy, international business, or entrepreneurship courses. A small high-tech company was simultaneously faced with two separate but significant growth opportunities in China. Pursuing either would put considerable pressure on the firm with respect to its resources, organizational capabilities, and organizational structure transition. What was the preferred pace of growth? Was China the best market for PS2 to focus on? Should PS2 consider setting up one or more joint ventures, or were other modes of foreign entry feasible?